How Care Navigators Personalize the Specialty Care Journey

Each year, more than a third of Americans are referred to specialty care. It’s a critical part of the healthcare system in the United States, and many times navigating that care journey can be a stressful, isolating, and expensive experience. Between trying to find a trusted provider, a facility that’s in network, and managing scheduling, it can feel like traversing a maze without a guide to show you the way. That’s where referral coordination solutions like care navigation come into play; as a core component of advanced primary care, care navigation helps members identify and access high-value specialty care. But how do the care navigators behind the scenes help simplify and personalize the experience for members? 

Personalized, Stress-Free Specialty Care with Care Navigators 

In this blog, we’ll explore how care navigators make healthcare more human through a personalized and friendly approach, offering your people a helping hand as they take on their specialty care journey. 

Friendly, People-Centered Outreach Tailored to Member Preferences 

In the event of a difficult or intimidating diagnosis from their provider, most people are not interested in discussing specialty care options with a chatbot or AI service; research is showing that most patients still prefer human providers for diagnosis, screening, and treatment over their technological counterparts. When a care navigator reaches out to help a member begin the next steps, they do so with empathy and understanding, along with deep experience navigating specialty care. To respect the member’s level of comfortability, the method of outreach is also completely on their terms. They should be able to digitally set their preference between phone calls, texts, or portal messages through an app. That way members get support on their terms, from a real person, and start their specialty care journey on the right foot. 

Finding the Right Facility by Understanding Their Needs 

Through conversation, the member builds rapport and trust with the care navigator. This is important because it helps the care navigator dig into the member’s situation, including what social drivers may be also influencing their condition. Equipped with this information along with collaboration with the member’s primary care provider, care navigators then use best in-class cost and quality data to find a high-value specialist that meets member preferences.  

Optimizing referrals to high-value facilities early in the specialty care process is critical to improving health and cost outcomes. By setting the member up for success with a quality referral the first time, care navigators can help reduce duplicative care and eliminate care gaps, enabling the member to get better faster. Altogether this reduces medical spend for both them and their employer. For example, at Premise Health we’ve seen firsthand how care navigators drive impact: one family-owned organization based in northeast Georgia was able to optimize 69% of their 1,532 specialty care referrals in 2023, which amounted to over $1.2M in estimated annual savings. 

A Trusted Advisor That Handles the In-between 

Managing healthcare on top of life’s daily stressors can quickly become exhausting, often leading to neglected health needs. A report by the American Psychological Association shows that a majority of adults (70%) say healthcare is a significant source of stress in their lives. Care navigators play an important part in relieving this burden for members by handling all administrative tasks related to specialty care; this includes scheduling appointments, sending reminders, and following up after their visit. They also relay important information back to the member’s primary care provider as needed, so their entire care team is empowered to provide the most informed healthcare possible.

By simplifying access to specialty care, care navigators help your people spend less time navigating the healthcare system and more time being productive throughout their day. With fewer distractions and reduced stress, they can be more engaged in their job and in their lives outside of work – benefiting both them and the organization.  

Healthcare Navigation That Delivers Value for Organizations and Members  

At Premise we know the important role of care navigators is to ensure that specialty care is not just accessible, but also personalized and stress-free. They act as trusted guides, helping members find high-quality, cost-effective specialists while handling the complexities of scheduling and coordination. Their people-focused approach fosters trust, reduces stress, and ultimately leads to better health outcomes. For organizations like employers or unions, offering care navigation as part of an advanced primary care approach can help lower their total cost of care. By optimizing referrals and reducing inefficiencies, care navigators help organizations control medical spend while enhancing employee wellbeing. 

Are you ready to help your workforce find the right specialty care? Read more about care navigation or contact us.